Note 9. Income Taxes

On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, or the Tax Reform Act, was signed into law. The Tax Reform Act included significant changes to existing law, including among other items, a reduction to the U.S. federal statutory corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% effective January 1, 2018. ASC 740, Income Taxes (Topic 740), or ASC 740, requires that the effects of changes in tax laws or rates be recognized in the period in which the law is enacted. Those effects, both current and deferred, are reported as part of the tax provision, regardless of income in which the underlying pretax income (expense) or asset (liability) was or will be reported.

The Company’s estimated fiscal 2018 blended U.S. federal statutory corporate income tax rate of 31.5% was applied in the computation of the income tax provision for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2017. The blended U.S. federal statutory corporate tax rate of 31.5% represents the weighted average rate between the pre-enactment U.S. federal statutory corporate tax rate of 35% prior to the January 1, 2018 effective date and the post-enactment U.S. federal statutory corporate tax rate of 21% thereafter.

The Company’s income tax provision was $32.2 million and $36.6 million for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2017, respectively, and $10.4 million and $24.8 million for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2016, respectively. The Company’s effective tax rate was 70.6% and 32.7% for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2017, respectively, and 40.2% and 40.0% for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2016, respectively. Consistent with guidance issued by the SEC, which provides for a measurement period of one year from the enactment date to finalize the accounting for effects of the Tax Reform Act, the Company provisionally recorded an income tax expense of $22.0 million during the three and nine months ended December 31, 2017, due to the re-measurement of its net deferred tax assets due to the lower U.S. federal statutory corporate tax rate. This provisional estimate reflects estimable current year impacts of the Tax Reform Act on the Company’s estimated annual effective tax rate and discrete items resulting directly from the enactment of the Tax Reform Act based on the information available, prepared, or analyzed (including computations) in reasonable detail. Any adjustments to this provisional estimate will be recorded as adjustments to income tax expense in the period in which those adjustments become estimable and/or are finalized, if necessary.

As discussed in “Note 2. Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies,” the Company also recognized excess tax benefits associated with stock-based awards of $3.2 million and $24.5 million as an income tax benefit for three and nine months ended December 31, 2017, respectively. These recognized excess tax benefits resulted from restricted stock units that vested or stock options that were exercised during the three and nine months ended December 31, 2017.

The significant differences between the statutory income tax rate and effective income tax rate for the three and nine months ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 were as follows:

	For the Three Months Ended December 31,							For the Nine Months Ended December 31,
		2017			2016				2017			2016
Statutory income tax rate		31.5		%	35.0		%		31.5		%	35.0		%
Increase resulting from:
Excess tax benefits from stock-based awards		(7.0	)		—				(21.9	)		—
Credits		(2.1	)		(1.2	)			(2.1	)		(1.2	)
State taxes, net		3.7			3.3				3.7			3.3
Permanent differences		1.7			2.7				1.7			2.7
Effect of the Tax Reform Act on net deferred tax assets		42.1			—				19.6			—
Other		0.7			0.4				0.2			0.2
Effective tax rate		70.6		%	40.2		%		32.7		%	40.0		%

The recently enacted Tax Reform Act allows for a 100% deduction for the repatriation of foreign subsidiary earnings with minimal U.S. income tax consequences other than the one-time deemed repatriation toll charge. Since most of the Company’s cash and cash equivalents are held by foreign subsidiaries which are disregarded entities for domestic tax purposes, any repatriation of such funds to the U.S. would likely have a nominal tax impact, if any.

The Company and its subsidiaries are subject to U.S. federal income tax, as well as income tax of multiple state and foreign jurisdictions. Fiscal years 2012 through 2017 remain open to examination in Germany and Abiomed Europe GmbH, the Company’s main operating subsidiary in Germany, is currently being audited for fiscal years 2012 through 2015. In July 2017, the Company was notified by the Internal Revenue Service, or IRS, that it has selected the Company’s federal tax return for fiscal 2016 for examination. In September 2017, the Company was notified by German tax authorities that our ECP subsidiary in Germany will be audited for the year ended December 31, 2014 and the three months ended March 31, 2015. All tax years remain subject to examination by the IRS and state tax authorities, because the Company has net operating loss and tax credit carryforwards which may be utilized in future years to offset taxable income, those years may also be subject to review by relevant taxing authorities if the carryforwards are utilized.